For years for Christmas dinner, I’d buy a spiral-sliced ham at Heavenly Ham at 7451 E. State St., Rockford.

It made me feel good being in the store, getting delicious meat — that I didn’t have to cook — for one of the most important family meals of the year.

The place still is appealing, even though in February it was turned into Molly’s Deli. These days, with more video gambling going on there than deli-sandwich making, it is now known simply as Molly’s. It is one of a handful of Molly’s in the area and one of 79 video gaming sites in Rockford alone.

Molly’s is clean and well-lit and features a cafe-like setting. Vases with dainty flowers decorate four tables. A likeness of a pretty woman’s face with piercing blue eyes glares out from atop a video gaming machine. A glass of cabernet sauvignon costs $2.95.

In other words, it doesn’t feel like a bar, especially one that targets guys. There are no big-screen TVs tuned to ESPN, for example. If I weren’t on company time when I stopped there on Wednesday, I may have gambled a bit on a machine.

Other local gaming spots appeal to women, too, including Betties Video Slots, with locations in Machesney Park and Loves Park. “Clean,” “quiet,” and “play safely” are words Betties has used in ads with a photo of a smiling woman at a video slot machine. The Laundry Room in Loves Park — which has 58 washers and 29 large-capacity dryers — has installed gaming machines that were waiting to be put in operation at deadline for this column. And as we all know, women do more laundry than men.

I and most women who occasionally gamble don’t let things get out of control. But a few increasingly do as a result of the expansion of gambling and easy access to venues, including in Illinois, where legal video gaming in bars started in October 2012.

One factoid that surprised me: Among problem gamblers ages 45 to 64, women outnumber men, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. It’s probable that a few local women are among problem gamblers, considering that between October 2012 and June of this year, video gambling losses in Rockford venues totaled $21.7 million, topping any other city in the state. The figures were compiled by Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems based on Illinois Gaming Board numbers. Video gaming isn’t allowed in Chicago.

“They’re putting (video gaming machines) in strip malls, grocery stores, places where women frequent,” and with women’s names like “Penny’s, Stella’s, Lucy’s and Betty’s,” she said. “Women are the caregivers, whether children or the elderly. They lose track of time and lose a great deal of money. ... When they lose their money, they borrow and steal.”

Sandra Adell will tell her gambling story to the public for free at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cherry Valley United Methodist Church in Cherry Valley. She is a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin and author of “Confessions of a Slot Machine Queen.” She was an unwed teen mother who earned a doctoral degree, only to risk losing everything after becoming addicted to slot machine gambling.

Cheryl Hollembeak, a counselor who is a nationally certified gambling counselor as well as a certified alcohol and drug counselor for Remedies Renewing Lives in Belvidere, wants to establish a Gamblers Anonymous program in Belvidere or Rockford for women and men. Remedies would provide meeting space. GA is a 12-step program that seeks to keep gamblers away from their games through support at meetings from others who’ve had gambling problems.

Hollembeak told me that about 3 percent of gamblers are problem gamblers. That’s a National Council on Problem Gambling estimate. Hollembeak also said that women tend to be “escape” gamblers. That means they gamble to escape, reduce stress and to distract themselves, and they favor “luck” games such as slot machines. Men are “action” gamblers. They prefer games of “skill,” such as poker.

Another difference: Women begin gambling later in life, with an average age of 34.2 years versus 20.4 for men, according to the Journal of Gambling Studies.

It’s not that problem gamblers don’t know where to call. Video gaming operators must post signs that direct those with a problem to 800-GAMBLER. The help line refers callers from Rockford to Remedies.

Family members and gamblers also can call Remedies for more information about gambling addiction at 815-962-0871.